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angle vs square vertical strength

10-26-2013, 11:12 AM

im building a welding table and i was gona go with 3x3 .120 square for the vertical legs. but a guy has some 3x3 .250 angle for sale for a little cheaper then what it would go for new. so im considering it for the vertical legs. the legs are gona have horizontal supports on top and down low too. what do you guys think? .120 square or .250 angle? ill only save about 20 bucks if i go angle but its heavyer.

Those are about equal in strength so you may as well go with the angle to save a little money. As another advantage for the angle is you can paint both sides so it may last longer than the tube if rust is an issue.

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With the square tube you may get away without strapping the legs, depending how beefy you build it. With angle your defiantly gonna have too, just due to small surface area of welding will enable those legs to wiggle like spaghetti. Then you gotta buy material to strap em. Personally I prefer tubing over angle in a situation like this hands down. Just my opinion tho.

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.120 square or .250 angle? ill only save about 20 bucks if i go angle but its heavyer.

The moment of inertia of the angle is 1.24. The moment of inertia of the square tube is 1.91. Hence, the tube is about 50% stronger in bending than the angle. The tube also has much greater torsional rigidity. My preference is the tube.

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Almost any question which starts with which is stronger etc is suspect. You should see "what size air line" on garage forums. None of it makes squat and there are good benchs and poor ones made from each.

I hate the shelf low, I want it up so it stays cleaner and can sweep under it. The weld connection at the corners is basically insignificant. They usually don't need several cross braces and gussets at the corners.

Personally wouldn't use either but 2x2 tubing. Half the cost again. Even angle, with braced/shelf you would need to measure the crush in tons or 1000's vs pounds,,

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I made 100's of benches, had a modular system with jigs for the legs, way before dig cams but this is a mockup of it basically with red for a little weld. I gang cut the parts at the yard but my helper could put 3 together to finish in a morning.

The customer wanted tube, I changed the design a bit when I submitted a proto and it looked so much better than the competitor I got it even with a few $ higher price.

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Tube looks a bit nicer. My own are angle just scrapped together from a couple jobs, never did get around to deliberately designing a bench. I have worked where we had a plate across 2 big sawhorses, that worked really good except they set the location haphazardly left footed.

In a small garage a 30x60 is sufficient, you can reach across it and walk around is easy. Anything bigger I frame up on the floor. Also,,, no holes in top for clamps, its an idea that seems better than is except for specialized deals, these get used for all kinds of work not just welding, don't want dirt falling thru as well as tools, can wipe up a spill.

I stuck a grate and can on mine, finally built a hopper. It blew soot under the bench and I finally fixed it, now making a simple cut doesn't mean sweeping the floor. On a portable bench probably wouldn't bother with electric.

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I have mine on wheels now. I think in this picture there is still dross from plasma cutting the pieces for the table top. I want to raise the lower shelf up a bit. Too low to the ground. I also I need to add some tool hangers for wrenches, air tools and clamps. I just stitched the 1/2" top to the frame to make sure it didn't warp the top at all. My tubes are 2x2x.120 and that is more than enough.

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Here is the table in use building a tube bender. The overhang along the edges let's me clamp projects down and I really like the 2" slot in the middle to clamp things in the middle of the table. Comes in handy.

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I used 3" drill pipe for the legs on my table. I got some 1/2 " plate left over off a job . it was originally two tables but I joined them together to make one table 12' x5' . after having a table with angle iron legs I noticed it was a lot harder to move and most times when a leg got hung up on something it wants to bend didn't have that problem with pipe or tubing.going to be making a smaller table 4'x4' for the rear of my shop something small so I can move it outside or inside depending on wheather.i also weld an angle iron to the side of all my tables that way it serves as a soaopstone holder or small tool holder and aslso when a small pipe job comes up it's very easy to just lay the pipe in the angle iron and tack it no need to waist time making sure the pipe is square the angle iron does it for you.